Institute for Biblical & Scientific Studies

News:
July 20, 2005

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ASA Meeting

The 60th Annual Meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation. Messiah
College Grantham, Pennsylvania, August 5-8, 2005. The meeting
is coming up fast. On Sunday, August 7th from 1:30 to 4:30 there is a special
symposium on the "Models of Creation: Intelligent Design and Evolution
in the Hostetter Chapel. The participants are William Dembski, Loren Haarsma,
Keith Miller, John Bracht, Darrell Falk, and Richard Steinberg. Q &
A from 5 to 6.

Religion in the News

Largest
Church in America?After $95 million in renovations, Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church opened
this weekend with four packed services in the 16,000-seat former Compaq
Center. Member Patricia Davis said she once saw ZZ Top perform in the stadium.
"I was saved from that," she told The New York Times. Now, "With
the waterfalls," she says, "this really feels like a sanctuary."

The
violence that lies in every ideology
Like most beliefs, Islam is a religion of peace that has to accept that
it can also breed terror. All major faiths are the same. They can all offer
help for different needs and agendas. Think of the muscular Christianity
of imperialist, Victorian Britain (or, indeed, of contemporary America)
or Hinduism's lunatic fringe. In Sri Lanka, even smiley, happy Buddhism
has exacerbated one of the most vicious civil conflicts of our time. (The
Observer, UK)

New
Muslim at 15, terror suspect at 19
When Germaine Lindsay, the 19-year-old man suspected of blowing up a subway
train at Russell Square, took hold of Islam four years ago, he did so zealously,
his friends say. (The New York Times)

Christian
Accused Of Burning Quran
Police have arrested Pakistani Christian Yousaf Masih after complaints he
burned pages from the Quran. Insulting the Quran, Islam, or the Prophet
Muhammad can be punishable with death under Pakistan's blasphemy laws. (The
Ledger, Fla.)

Take a
Pass on Yoga
How can I support a practice that is targeting the young and the weak? by
Holly Vicente Robaina.

Harry
Beasts
The animal symbols in Potterdom are powerful pointers to Christian reality.
An excerpt from John Granger's Looking for God in Harry Potter.

Harry
Potter and the Pope
Pope Benedict XVI has taken aim at an unlikely target: Harry Potter. The
pope has condemned the children's books as "subtle seductions"
that have the potential to corrupt young Christians. (The Day, New
London, Conn.)

Dramatic
findings from the First and Second Temple periods uncovered
Digs taking place near Yokneam in the western Galilee have revealed
the existence of an impressive administrative center from the First Temple
period, which ended some 2,500 years ago. In addition, remnants of dense
housing in a Jewish village from the Second Temple period  2,000 years
ago  have been found.

Astronomy

Deep
Impact: sifting through the debris
When Deep Impact's washing-machine-sized probe slammed into comet Tempel
1 on 4 July, teams of astronomers watched using telescopes in space and
around the world. Nature investigates what the images tell us so far about
the comet's composition and history.

Cassini
Zeros In on Saturn's Strange Satellite
Since entering Saturn's orbit on June 30 last year, the Cassini spacecraft
has sent back intriguing images of some of the planet's 34 known moons.
Newly released pictures from Cassini's first encounter with one such moon,
Hyperion, indicate that the irregularly shaped satellite resembles a heap
of rubble.

Interplanetary
Whodunit: Methane On Mars Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jul 21, 2005
Mars is the planet that refuses to say "die." In 1996, after centuries
of speculation about canals, icecaps and vegetation, NASA's David McKay
reported seeing traces of ancient bacteria in a meteorite from Mars.

Dustiest
Star Could Harbor A Young Earth Hilo HI (SPX) Jul 20, 2005
A relatively young star located about 300 light-years away is greatly improving
our understanding of the formation of Earth-like planets.

Biology

Fundamental
Discovery About The Fracture Of Human Bone: It's All In The 'Glue'
A startling discovery about the properties of human bone has been made by
scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The scientists
describe their results -- finding a sort of "glue" in human bone
-- in the cover story of the August issue of the international scientific
journal, Nature Materials.

Parkinson's
Treatment Linked to Compulsive Gambling
Researchers have identified a strange side effect to a treatment for Parkinson's
disease: excessive gambling. Some patients taking medications known as dopamine
agonists developed the problem within three months of starting treatment,
even though they had previously gambled only occasionally or never at all.

Protein
Tells Flowers When Spring Starts
The bursting blooms of many types of flowers herald the onset of spring.
New research is helping scientists unravel the cellular signaling that prompts
the plants to blossom after their winter slumber. The action of one protein
that responds to daylight apparently starts a chain reaction that allows
flowering to commence.

Living In The
Dead Sea Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jul 18, 2005
Over the years, a number of Weizmann Institute scientists have addressed
the question of how molecules essential to life, such as proteins, have
adapted to function in extreme environments.

Discovering
An Ecosystem Beneath A Collapsed Antarctic Ice Shelf Washington DC (SPX)
Jul 19, 2005
The chance discovery of a vast ecosystem beneath the collapsed Larsen Ice
Shelf will allow scientists to explore the uncharted life below Antarctica's
floating ice shelves and further probe the origins of life in extreme environments.

Creation/Evolution

Enigmatic
fossils shed light on early evolution
One of the most puzzling phases in the evolution of life - the Ediacaran
period - is giving up its secrets, thanks to two strange fossil types. ONE
of the most puzzling phases in the evolution of life is giving up its secrets.
Two strange fossil types are helping palaeontologists understand the weird
inhabitants of the Ediacaran period.

Creation
exhibit scrapped at Tulsa Zoo
Plans to build an exhibit at the Tulsa Zoo featuring the biblical account
of creation were scratched July 7 by the city's Park and Recreation Board.
(Religion News Service)

Earth Science

Predatory
Dinosaurs Breathed Like Birds, Study Suggests
A new analysis suggests that theropod dinosaurs such as T. rex shared
another characteristic with their modern-day bird descendants: their mode
of breathing. Although some scientists have posited that the extinct creatures
would have had lungs similar to those of today's crocodiles and other reptiles,
the results instead indicate that theropods used a more complex pulmonary
system resembling that of living birds.

Physics

Fusion
energy: Just around the corner
For 50 years, physicists have been promising that power from nuclear fusion
is imminent. Now they are poised to build an experiment that could vindicate
their views. But will the machine work? Geoff Brumfiel investigates.

Psychology

Self Tests
A fascinating collection of tests that are as fun to share as they are to
take.